The present invention relates to a flowmeter for monitoring the flow of water through a pipe and more particularly to a battery operated flowmeter which can transmit flow related data (volume and/or temperature) to a remote receiver.
It is becoming more and more important to conserve our resources. It has long been appreciated that monitoring and billing for resource use, such as water use, will cause a decrease in the use of the monitored resource.
To monitor very local water use, such as water use by a tenant in an apartment complex, flow through a number of pipes will have to be monitored. The equipment for achieving this objective will have a low cost, be very inexpensive to install or replace, and be tamper resistant, if it is to be economically viable.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a battery powered flowmeter which can be produced at low cost and which can be easily installed but which will be tamper resistant when installed.
In the present invention, a water supply line is disconnected to insert a flow indicating device which can produce a repetitive signal representative of the flow through the pipe. A transmitting device, which can receive the repetitive signal and transmit data based thereon to a host device, is secured on the flow indicating device with a locking clip that must be destroyed to separate the transmitting device from the flow indicating device.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following portion of this specification and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate in accordance with the mandate of the patent statutes a presently preferred embodiment incorporating the principles of the invention.